HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The University of Alabama in Huntsville announced today it had received a $1 million gift to create an eminent scholar chair to the Department of Political Science in the College of Liberal Arts.

The gift came from Sigmatech, whose chairman is UAH alum Dr. Gurmej Sandhu.

The Baba Budha Eminent Scholar Chair in Global Understanding, with specialization in Indian studies, is the first part of a dual-chair concept, originating at UAH, according to the school.

The second part is the Baba Deep Eminent Scholar chair in Global Understanding, with specialization in American Studies, to be established at Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, India.

The position was approved today by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama during the group's meeting in Tuscaloosa.

Sandhu graduated in 1979 with an electrical engineering degree from UAH. He was inducted into the Distinguished Engineering Academy at UAH in 2001 and was a recipient of the distinguished Alumni Achievement Award in 2004 for his contribution to system science and signal processing.

"We are especially pleased with Dr. Sandhu's commitment to UAHuntsville to assist in enhancing global understanding," said Dr. Malcolm Portera, interim president at UAH and Chancellor of the University of Alabama System. "This gift provides more validation of the fact that we are an international community. The Eminent Scholar will be located in the College of Liberal Arts."

According to the UAH announcement, India, the world's largest democracy with one billion people, is viewed as one of the three economic powers of the 21st century along with the United States and China.

"The objective of this initiative is to educate students in a global business curriculum and ultimately to improve business, trade, and cultural relationships between the U.S. and India," Dr. Sandhu said.

Aside from Sigmatech's $1 million corporate contribution to the academic environment, the dual-chair concept also plays an academic ambassadorial role, which has special significance. The University of Alabama in Huntsville and Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar will benefit from two eminent scholars working together for future cooperation between their academic programs.

The City of Huntsville and the City of Amritsar will benefit from joint venture industrial programs. The State of Punjab is the agriculture state of the world's "green" revolution, which produces nearly 40 percent of India's reserve food supply. The state of Alabama will benefit from joint agricultural research programs in cooperation with its counterpart state, Punjab.

"We are extremely grateful to Dr. Sandhu and Sigmatech for establishing this eminent scholar chair," said UAH Provost Dr. Vistasp Karbhari. "This will not only add strength to our already strong program in political science, but will also enable us to increase the awareness and understanding of the interconnectedness of the global community in which we live."